Designing and Planning a Teaching Session This document is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license, available at

Today’s menu Approaches to study – some theories Constructivism – what is it? Video 1: outcomes Outcomes-based planning – a background Describing 'thinking skills' Activity 1: writing learning outcomes Alternative views on outcomes Lesson planning Video 2: students today Activity 2: how does this affect learning design? Learning technology – what is available? Activity 3: lesson planning Video 3: design in a technology-rich context

Expected learning outcomes At the end of this session participants should be able to: state the rationale for using an outcome-based approach to planning teaching sessions write expected learning outcomes for a specific course/session discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various learning technologies select appropriate teaching and learning activities to support outcomes designing a teaching session using a template

Approaches to study – what a student does Deep and surface approaches (Marton etc,’70s) Strategic approaches (Biggs, Ramsden, ‘80s) Approaches can be modified by designing the learning context (Biggs, ‘90s) ‘Constructive alignment’ – congruence between –What the teacher intends learners to be able to do, know or understand (can be described as outcomes) –How they teach i.e. the activities –How they assess

So what is constructivism? Piaget (1950s), Brunner (1960s)... New learning and knowledge builds on old understanding – rarely a ‘blank slate’ Learning is not just adding knowledge but bringing change or transformation to pre- existing concepts to refine understanding and linkages – hence notion of ‘deep learning’ ‘threshold concepts’(Meyer & Land 2005)

Video 1 4 mins

What the teacher intends students to learn: “outcomes” Planning starts with clear learning outcomes and the aim of planning is to align our learning activities with these. Rationale: the planning of learning experiences and assessment of student learning has a significant impact on students’ approaches to learning. Part of a systematic or ‘rational planning’ model Dominant in the UK since ’90s

Why is outcomes-based planning important? Became dominant in UK Higher Education since the Dearing Report (1997) Often used in proposals for new programmes or modules Used in the QAA Subject Benchmark statements –set out general academic characteristics and standards of degrees in a range of subjects: /subject-guidance/Pages/Subject-benchmark- statements.aspx

UCL Context Programme design includes (i)the educational aims of the programme, including its intended learning outcomes and how these will be communicated to students, staff and external audiences; Programme Institution Questionnaire (PIQ UG) “The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas: A: Knowledge and understanding B: Skills and other attributes - intellectual (thinking) skills C: Skills and other attributes - practical skills D: Skills and other attributes - transferable skills

Writing Learning Outcomes Outcomes should be Written in a future tense (will, should be able to…) Identify important learning requirements Be achievable Be assessable Use language which students can understand Relate to explicit statements of achievement ….but ‘thinking’ outcomes perhaps most difficult to define

Describing ‘thinking’ skills Bloom – 1956, revised, Anderson & Krathwohl 2001 verbs 1. Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge 1. Create Evaluate Analyze Apply Understand Remember

Describing ‘thinking’skills Biggs SOLO Taxonomy – more verbs Video extract - Solo

Prestructural misses point Unistructural identify, do simple procedure Multistructural enumerate, describe, list, combine, do alogorithms Relational compare/contrast, explain causes, analyse, relate, apply Extended abstract theorise, generalise, hypothesise, reflect Biggs (1996) Structure of Observed learning Outcomes Pictures from ATHERTON J S (2009) Learning and Teaching; SOLO taxonomy [On-line] UK: Available: Accessed: 27 October 2009

Writing Learning Outcomes Consider your general aim/s for a module you are teaching. Write specific learning outcomes for this course: what do you want the students to learn?

Local/Solo Knowledge & Understanding Intellectual skills Practical skills Transferable skills Prestructural Unistructural Multistructural Relational Extended abstract

Alternative views Laurillard (1993) - learning/teaching is a rich dialogue Haggis (2003) - deep/surface models can be challenged Rowland (2006) – outcomes imply a passive learner - learners may take on increasing responsibility for ‘designing’ their personal learning (PLEs) Siemens (2005) – ‘connectivism’: know how where Sfard (2007) – communities of practice But also... learners develop in unpredictable ways depending on their own independent motivations

Lesson Planning aim of planning is to align our learning processes and activities with the intended learning outcomes. assessment is particularly important technology becoming increasingly central...

Designing learning activities in a technology- rich context (JISC template) 3.aspx Issues to take into account Who are your learners? What are your intended learning outcomes? Where does learning take place? What learning technologies are available? What learning resources are available? What are the challenges? Issues to decide What will learners do (learning activity/ies)? How will they be supported? How will learners receive feedback? What resources will they use? What technologies will they use? What is the e-learning advantage?

Why‘a technology-rich context’? Video A Vision of Students Today (How) do these changes affect learning design?

Learning technology at UCL (How) do these technologies affect learning design?